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Wartime Rationing Menu Challenge: MARCH

Are you as thrilled as I am? I've been working steadily on this project for two months - trying out test recipes, choosing menus for the next six months, typing everything up, formatting and getting it ready to share. It's been a lot of work, but I'm so excited to share these recipes with you all. It's been hard not to get cooking already!

So, are you ready?

First up, I want to put in a disclaimer. I'm starting this ration menu challenge, and I'm going to follow it the best I can, but I'm just like you - busy with life and all the little moments of chaos that come up when they're the least expected. This isn't a hardcore challenge. Remember that it's for fun, for learning about a cool era of historical cooking in America, and to get yourself into your kitchen trying out some new recipes! If you find some fabulous new favorites, even better.

A few little details:
1) I decided to run this challenge for six months. If I can manage longer, I might extend it. I'd really like to since I keep finding new sources for wartime menus, and six months isn't nearly long enough to do all the exploring I want to do! But, I have other things on my plate I want to accomplish this year like sewing and delving into writing my next book, so six months it is for now. It's going to be a really fun six months of cooking, folks, let me tell you!

2) By accepting this challenge and downloading my menus, you're agreeing to respect all my hard work. Please do not steal, modify, or misuse my work in any way. I'd love for you to share it, but please direct them to my blog so they can download it for themselves here so I can get credit for the countless hours I put in. I'm doing this for free on my own time!

3) Please share photos of the things you make from the menu recipes! You can use the hashtag #wartimemenuchallenge2018 on Instagram or Facebook. I don't do Twitter, but feel free to share it there with a link to my blog so others can join in on the fun! We've also got a thriving Facebook group called Wartime Rationing, Recipes, and Cookbooks where you can post your progress. You can join us there, just keep in mind you have to answer the membership questions before you're considered for acceptance and there are some group rules to abide by.

4) Finally, I want to clear up any confusion from the get-go. These menus and ration recipes are from American sources. I realize that British and American rationing systems sometimes get lumped together, but they are so different from each other, you can't even really compare the two. Just in case you're wondering where all the sugar is coming from or why there's a distinct lack of potatoes at every meal... 😁

**Important Note: For the recipe for Lollipop Men in the St. Patrick's Day menu, the recipe suggests using lead molds to make your lollipop men. Please do not use lead molds! Lead is poisonous. I figured you already knew this, but I had to put this disclaimer here just in case. I left the directions for the authenticity of the recipe, but please use common sense! Thank you!

Grapefruit
Cooked Cereal
Fluffy Omelet
Whole Wheat Toast
Coffee/Malted Milk
I kept it mostly the same with only a few changes due to what we had on hand:
Orange slices
Cooked 10-grain cereal
Fluffy Omelet
Bread w/ a bit of butter
Coffee substitute (Teaccino)
Yum! It was a nice breakfast, especially since it wasn't just cold cereal. To make the fluffy omelet, I didn't follow a recipe. I just added some milk to the scrambled eggs which makes it fluffy as it slowly cooks. And I sprinkled a bit of cheese on top.

LUNCH
The lunch menu was quite lovely! We actually had it for a light supper.
Cream of Mushroom Soup
Berry Patch Salad
Toasted Muffins
Tea/Milk
I stuck to this menu, and used a recipe for the soup from one of my wartime cookbooks. It used a mixture of milk and evaporated milk. I used up some light …

If ever there was a myth about history it would be this: Things were dirt cheap back then.

Were they really?
And this is where I rub my hands together and cackle with geeky glee. Just like we shouldn't judge our ancestors solely based on current standards and social norms, we shouldn't judge prices of yesteryear by today's dollar value.

I'll give you some examples.

(And don't worry. I'm not going to get super technical or get all crazy on the math, because Math is not my strongest subject. I'll fully admit I got my math-savvy husband to help me remember the equations I learned from my college economics class.)

I was looking in one of my Health-for-Victory meal planning guide from 1943. They stated that if you followed their meal plan, you could expect to spend between $14 - $16 a week on groceries. You're probably thinking, WOW! I'd love to pay $14/week for groceries! But what's the value of 1943's $14 in our current year of 2015?